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Magnetic sled could hurl objects into orbit

IT SOUNDS more like a roller coaster than a spacecraft launcher&colon; a levitating sled that whirls around a giant magnetic ring at ever increasing speeds before shooting up into the sky.

Its developer LaunchPoint Technologies of Goleta, California, claims it could fire hundreds of microsatellites into space each day for a fraction of the cost of conventional rockets.

LaunchPoint, which is being funded by the US air force, claims a circular accelerator could allow the magnetically levitating sled to progressively build up speed over a period of hours. It would then be launched up a ramp at 10 kilometres per …